A North Carolina farmer apparently scared away a mama bear with his machinery last week after stumbling upon a newborn black bear nest. According to the North Carolina Black Bear Festival, the local man was driving a piece of equipment a week ago when he came across the big grass nest. The sound of the equipment must have scared away the sow bear from the nest, because the farmer never saw her. He captured these photos and immediately left without disturbing the newborn cubs.
On the North Carolina coastal plain, where the land is so low and the water table high, digging a den often is not a option for bears – so bears have to improvise. In this case, the North Carolina Black Bear Festival says it appears the sow either tried to build a grass nest above the damp swampy area or made it on top of a muskrat’s grass house.
